


serenity and animatedly

by imnyoung



Category: GOT7, JJ Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 11:57:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8749921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnyoung/pseuds/imnyoung
Summary: School AU. Jaebum is a bully and Jinyoung is a loner. No one wants to be friends with jinyoung but jaebum does. Any rating





	

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [JinyoungFicFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/JinyoungFicFest) collection. 



> to the anon who sent this in, i'm so sorry!!! i feel like it strayed too much form the prompt but i hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless!! the end might be a bit rushed as well so sorry!! also, this is my first got7 fic so please be easy on me!! enjoy!! ♡♡♡

Gasps filled the hallway as a handsome man walked by, hands stuffed in his pockets and jet-black hair slicked back. He walks by coolly, without much care for others, but with the full attention of admiring and envying eyes and one name on their prying lips. Im Jaebum is a name that is widely known in the huge academy, towards students and teachers alike. I mean, how could he not be? He's got good grades, great looks, a great body and he gets to do things that normal high schoolers can't do. Partying on weekends, hanging out with the 'cool' adults, travelling with random friends (or the occasional girlfriend), fighting people who piss him off (and often leaving as the victor) despite being only 18. So yeah, Im Jaebum is one of the popular kids, with chosen friends who are either handsome or pretty, who teases others and gets away with it and a reputation that makes teachers hate him for his behavior but doesn't bother him because of his decent grades. It isn't surprising that he's got many friends, with varying degrees of fame, and nobody there being a 'nobody'. Sometimes you'd see him at the freshmen hallways, or eating lunch with the sophomores in his special place in the cafeteria, or cutting class with the juniors on the rooftop, or just hanging out with his actual batchmates. 

Today, Jaebum thinks as Jackson (beloved dongsaeng, talks too much) drags him down the hallway leading to his classroom while talking his ear off about this party they have to go to together, was a bad day for him to pay the sophomores a visit. Jackson slams the door open, revealing the normal rowdy class. Students playing, eating and talking at the same time. The two choose to sit in the back, eating whatever Jackson bought with him. 

"Hyung, you really have to go with me!" Jackson pleads as he opens his sandwich. Jaebum isn't really paying attention, he has no intention of going to any parties this week. "Everyone's gonna be there! There's Bambam, Yugyeom, Mark hyung... Oh, and Youngjae!" Jackson beams, as if Youngjae (his most favorite, cute dongsaeng) was his secret weapon. Jaebum narrows his eyes at him.

"Youngjae's going to a party?" Jaebum asks, already doubting Jackson. Youngjae has never, ever been to a party without Jaebum. So it surprises him now that Youngjae had done so without telling him. He pouts internally.

"Yeah! Which is why you have to go!" Jackson bounces in his seat, repeating 'please' in a way Jackson thinks is endearing but annoys Jaebum. Nonetheless, Jaebum pretends to think about it, but he's really gonna go to keep an eye on them.

"Hyung, you're gonna go, right?" Jackson asks, offering his sandwich as some kind of deal. Jaebum takes it and rolls his eyes, eyeing the group behind Jackson as he cheers. The group seems to be in deep talk, whispering amongst themselves, eyeing his way. Jaebum stares at them hard, hopefully so he gets noticed and they finally stop.

But it seems that they won't be doing any of that soon, so he pulls Jackson closer and asks him, "Who the hell are those guys? You know I get pissed off when people gossip about me, in front of me." 

Jackson finally stops talking and turns his head not-so-subtly towards them. "Oh, hyung. That's probably not about you." He points to the boy behind Jaebum, which Jaebum quickly slaps away, muttering 'don't point, dickhead'. 

Jaebum doesn't like gossip, despite being popular. He can't avoid it though, being surrounded by rich snobs who like to include themselves in everything, so he's always updated on the latest secrets and scandals. 

Jaebum turns slowly, unlike Jackson. He spots the boy in a grey sweater, who's reading some book, all alone in the back of the room like he's some kind of contagious disease. Jaebum raises an eyebrow at him, he's confused, does the kid have some kind of sickness? Or is he a bully or something? He doesn't look the part, Jaebum thinks with a frown. Jaebum doesn't like gossip but... He's curious about this kid for some reason.

He turns to Jackson, "So, what's up with him? Is he sick or something?" Jaebum asks, taking another bite from his sandwich as he waits for Jackson to stop stuffing his face. Jackson holds up a finger and chews loudly, before swallowing loudly. Jaebum crinkles his nose in disgust. 

"Nah, nothing like that. It's honestly something petty." Jackson says, waving a hand in the air. He quickly takes a large bite from his sandwich and looks around nervously. Weirdly enough, Jackson seems to be dismissing the topic and Jaebum knows that Jackson loves hearing gossip and telling gossip. If Jaebum was willing to let this slide a while ago, now he's really curious. What is with that guy?

"And that is...?" Jaebum asks again, hoping for the answer this time. Jackson sighs in defeat, looking around again before leaning closer to Jaebum. 

"Well, you can see his aura. Silent, serious, and you can't even see his face. Overall, intimidating, don't you think?" Jackson makes a face. Jaebum doesn't find him intimidating, he just sorta looks like the resident geek. Jackson continues when Jaebum looks at him, unimpressed. "And, there's a rumor that he's, uh, gay." 

Jaebum rolls his eyes, he's not gay or anything, but he doesn't see anything wrong in boys liking other boys. Some of his friends tell him that it's because he hasn't experienced the uncomfortableness of knowing a guy actually likes you. But Jaebum doesn't think that's the case. He eyes the group who's still looking at the boy intently, still talking amongst themselves. I'll show them, Jaebum thinks.

"Jackson-ah, what's the guy's name again?" Jaebum asks as his mind formulates idea after idea on how to humiliate the nosy classmates that Jackson has. He doesn't know why but they piss him off so much, even though he hasn't even met the boy yet. Jackson raises an eyebrow, a premonition of a fight in his gut. He answers anyway.

As soon as Jackson said the boy's name, Jaebum took off, taking another sandwich with him. He ignores Jackson protests and wails and heads straight to the boy. He takes the seat in front of the boy and it bangs on his desk. Jaebum winces, maybe a bit gentler next time, he reminds himself. He sits on the chair facing the boy and places his arms in the back of the seat, laying his head on it. He almost gazes adoringly at the boy before he remembers he wasn't here to flirt. The boy was looking at him weirdly now.

"Hey, Jinyoung, right?" Jaebum starts, watching as Jinyoung's eyes flicker back and forth on his book and Jaebum. It was as if he was contemplating talking to Jaebum. He hesitates as he puts down his book, skeptically looking around the room. At this point, Jaebum can feel the group's eyes on them. He smirks, it was the perfect plan, the popular man talking and befriending the kid. Just until he wasn't so outcast anymore. He wants to prove them wrong so bad.

"Uh, yeah..." Jinyoung replies, voice surprisingly mellow. After a few beats of silence between the two boys, Jinyoung spoke again. "And you are...?" 

Jaebum's eyes widen, Jinyoung doesn't know him? It's somehow refreshing, being able to introduce himself again, and without being worshipped by the person he was talking to. Jaebum regains his composure quickly, smiling his best smile and straightening his back and taking out a hand for Jinyoung to shake. 

"Im Jaebum. I'm your hyung, by the way." Jaebum says, eyeing the clock behind them. He's got exactly twenty minutes to get the kid to warm up to him. 

"Right, weren't you with Jackson a while ago?" Jinyoung shakes his hand twice and retracts it quickly. Jaebum wonders if the kid ever feels hot, he's not even sweating in this hot afternoon in that thick sweater.

"Yeah, but I wanted to talk to you. And I was kind of hoping we could be friends." Jaebum says slowly, and rests his head in his free palm. Jaebum could think of many ways to talk to Jinyoung in his free time. Maybe he should start eating with Jackson more often. 

Jinyoung raises an eyebrow, his mind overridden with suspicions on why Jaebum was still talking to him. "Why?" He asks simply, but his voice was guarded, Jaebum could hear it. 

"Why? Can't I be friends with someone?" Jaebum asks back. Jinyoung looks unimpressed with his answer and was opening his book to read and ignore Jaebum when hands shot up to prevent Jinyoung from reading, holding his book closed and dangerously close to holding Jinyoung's whole hand. Jaebum spoke quickly, "Alright, alright. So I heard that you were gay and I've never really met anyone who's actually gay, so here I am." Jaebum smiles cheekily at Jinyoung but, if possible, Jinyoung looked even more unimpressed by his answer. He yanks his book from Jaebum's hold and opens it, refusing to look up even if Jaebum calls him, effectively ignoring him until the school bell rings, signaling the end of their lunch break.

Jaebum sulkily goes back to Jackson's table, telling him that they need to talk later. He goes back to his classroom later on, thinking about what he'd said wrong. Ultimately, he hasn't stopped thinking about Jinyoung since then. 

 

\---

 

When school is done, Jaebum walks home with Jackson and Bambam to weasel out any information they have about Jinyoung. Jackson because they're classmates and Bambam because he knows every gossip there is. Also, their houses are amazingly next to each other, so it's a win-win situation. On the way there, he tells them about what happened at lunch break and why he's trying to befriend Jinyoung and his plans.

"Jinyoung? Isn't he the guy who's always wearing a sweater? I saw him wearing one even in the summer." Bambam says, chewing on some fries they bought on the way, Jackson's treat. 

"Is he always wearing one? Do you think he's cutting himself?" Jackson asks, kicking stray rocks on the pavement. Jaebum thinks of red lines on the boy's wrists and winces. He has always been a bit squeamish towards those kind of things. 

"Yeah, didn't you notice, hyung? I mean, he walks the same way as us, and his house is in the same street!" Bambam waves a fry in front of Jackson's face, which Jackson tries to bite off. 

"Wait. Bam-ah, did you say he walks this way as well?" Jaebum asks, there was way too many people who lived there and went to the same school. Jackson looks at him suspiciously and Bambam squints and replies wih a teasing smile. 

"Yeah. Why, hyung, are you gonna walk home with him to get close to him?" Bambam cackles, mouth open wide to display chewed fries. Jackson and Jaebum move away from him in disgust. 

And, indeed Jaebum was. The poor kid probably walked home alone anyway. There was nothing bad in accompanying him home even if his home was on the other side of the school. Meanwhile, Jackson and Bambam took his silence as an answer and they both protested at the same time. 

"Hyung, your house is miles away from here. It's like you're walking your girlfriend home." Bambam. 

"That's not fair! You didn't walk me home when we weren't close! And you don't even know him." Jackson.

Jaebum chooses to ignore both of their protests and walks in front of them with a satisfied smile on his face. He plans on getting home earlier so he can formulate his plan for tomorrow. 

 

\---

Tomorrow comes and Jaebum walks alone on his way to school, feeling a bit on the edge. By the time he got home yesterday, Jackson and Bambam had (un)kindly spilled the beans to the others which means that they all know about his plans, which means they're gonna tease him about it all day, which means he's gonna kick their asses (except for Mark-hyung, who he respects very much but will probably end up teasing him the most).

The same routine repeats, he passes the gates, people swoon at him and he meets up with Youngjae in the entrance hall. He spots Yougjae on his phone and he contemplates just ditching him to spare himself the jokes. But he can't, because Youngjae is his precious dongsaeng and he doesn't deserve to get ditched. Youngjae notices him anyway. 

"Hyung! Not with your boyfriend yet?" Youngjae asks, eyes twinkling with mischief. Jaebum ignores him, and Youngjae laughs at his reaction. Youngjae asks him about this new game that's coming out later this week and Jaebum's day proceeds as normal.

His classes pass by quickly and really, Jaebum is normally focused whenever he's in class but today seems to be an exception. His mind is a mess, alternating between reminding himself to focus in class and Jinyoung, Jinyoung, Jinyoung.

He eats with Mark today, avoiding the juniors so that Jinyoung won't get suspicious. Apparently, Jackson is going to help him with his plans despite his protests yesterday. He's been bothering Jaebum with texts on what Jinyoung is doing or where he's going and what he's wearing (a striped sweater) or what he's eating today (nothing, again). He's also going to tail Jinyoung later and tell Jaebum on where he is so they can go home together. Jaebum doesn't know whether to be exsaperated or thankful. 

He settles for treating him to lunch tomorrow because Jinyoung is apparently a ninja. Jaebum tried to tail him as well but he lost count on how many times he lost sight of the boy. Jackson told him to wait in front of the gates and that he'd make sure Jinyoung would get there soon. 

Eventually, Jackson does pass by and as he held onto both of his backpack's straps, he threw him two thumbs up and a wide smile, but Jinyoung was nowhere to be found. He was about to ask Jackson when he rushed out of the gates and Jinyoung exits the hallway, face hidden by his long bangs and hoodie. 

Jaebum pushes himself off the wall when Jinyoung was about to pass by, obviously avoiding his gaze. But as soon as Jinyoung walks out of the school, Jaebum is right beside him, their steps in sync as if they've been friends for years. Jinyoung ignores him for a while, until there were less people around them. Once Jinyoung deemed it clear to talk to Jaebum, he clears his throat.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jinyoung asks him, not curiously but rather, wanting to get rid of him. Jaebum just smiles at him. 

"Well, I'm walking you home. Because I still want to be your friend, and that's what friends do." Jaebum says, triumphantly. He honestly thinks that walking is a bit of a chore but if it means that he'll see Jinyoung's guard down soon, it doesn't seem too bad. 

Jinyoung rolls his eyes, but he refrains from telling Jaebum that, No, that's not what friends do. Besides, he still doesn't want to talk to Jaebum. Call him childish, but his comment yesterday struck a nerve. Maybe if Jaebum apologizes--

"Hey, about yesterday, I'm sorry. I really, really want to be friends, but I think I said something wrong yesterday." Jaebum says, sincerely. He avoids looking at Jinyoung, for some reason. He doesn't know if he's saying it just to convince Jinyoung or if he really wants to be friends. Jaebum tries not to dwell on it.

Maybe if Jaebum apologizes, he'll give him a chance. Jinyoung sighs, eyes trained on the dirty pavement. They were still walking but Jinyoung walks slowly, maybe he was a little curious about Jaebum. "Okay, okay." He breathes in shallowly, and Jaebum looks at him, hands in his pockets. "I'm sorry, too. It's just, what you said, it ticked me off." Jinyoung says with a frown, looking at the road ahead them now. 

"What ticked you off, Jinyoung?" Jaebum said, Jinyoung's name rolling off his tongue like honey. He sort of wants to say it again. Jinyoung flinches, but not visibly. 

"The way you said it made it seem like you were befriending me because I was gay. And being gay is not my defining feature." Jinyoing huffs, then pouts. Jaebum thinks it looks cute. 

Also, Jinyoung just comfirmed that he was gay, whether it slipped or not. Jaebum smiles, delighted that Jinyoung came out to him. He was about to say something about that, maybe tease him a little, just to see his limits, when Jinyoung stopped walking. Jaebum looked back at him in confusion. 

"We're here." Jinyoung announces. He starts walking up to the porch and Jaebum can't think of anything to say. He settles for watching Jinyoung. He reaches for the doorknob of his house and glances at him. A few beats pass by before Jinyoung waves at him shyly and says, "I'll see you later, Jaebum." He quickly goes inside and shuts the door with a soft thud. Jaebum doesn't know it but an ear splitting grin is on his face. Hearing Jinyoung say that was oddly comforting, like he was assured that he wasn't going to get ditched. He stands there for a few moments before turning the other way, his grin gone but you can still feel the delight radiating from Jaebum as he walks home. 

He forgets to tell Jinyoung to call him hyung. 

 

\--- 

A few weeks go by, and Jaebum starts to forget about why he talked to Jinyoung in the first place. He genuinely enjoys talking to him. Their daily walks to Jinyoung's house becomes his favorite time of the day. He finds out that they have many things in common, such as reading books or liking coffee better than tea. Small facts about Jinyoug make Jaebum very happy. And Jinyoung's smile. God. Jaebum's heart makes some weird flop everytime Jinyoung smiles and his eyes crinkle or whenever he laughs and he covers his mouth in silent laughter. It's a nice change from his usual boisterous group. 

Speaking of his usual boisterous group, he feels sort of bad towards them. He's been ditching them for Jinyoung (not that he wouldn't do it again). But Jackson's been getting friendly with Jinyoung and sometimes, he feels like they're closer than them. He's not jealous or anything, but Jackson's the sort of guy who's handsy with people. So naturally, he'd get handsy with Jinyoung as well. Jaebum would sometimes get the urge to touch Jinyoung as well, but Jaebum has always kept his distance with Jinyoung, it'd be weird to start getting handsy now. 

Mark and Yugyeom met Jinyoung as well. Mark and Jinyoung had hit it off very well, it's like they were long-lost friends. But Yugyeom and Jinyoung, they were a great duo. It's like a mom and her son or a dog and a cat. It's a weird combination but Jaebum thinks that Jinyoung fits with their group very nicely. 

Jaebum's walking with Jinyoung again, but now they were more comfortable with each other. They're a block away from Jinyoung's house when he speaks, "Jaebum-hyung, why are you still accompanying me home anyway? Isn't your house the other way? I could walk with alone or with Jackson anyway." 

Jaebum deflates and whines, "Replacing me already? That's so mean of you." He drags his feet through the pavement in fake disappointment. He can already feel Jinyoung roll his eyes. 

"You know that's not what I mean, hyung." Jinyoung pauses and when Jaebum looks at him, he looks away. "I just don't want to tire you, that's all." Jaebum smiles cheekily when he notices the tips of Jinyoung's ears are red. 

He coos at Jinyoung and pinches his cheek, indulging himself with the look that Jinyoung is giving him. "I wouldn't be tired if I'm with you Jinyoungie. Besides, I happen to enjoy these daily walks a lot." 

Jinyoung looks at him weirdly but doesn't say anything else. They arrive at Jinyoung's house and Jaebum was about to wait outside and wait for Jinyoung to get inside, like usual. Jinyoung opens the door with his keys and looks back. Jaebums raises his hand and waves goodbye to Jinyoung. But it seems Jinyoung had other plans. 

"Hyung, d'you wanna get inside?" Jinyoung asks Jaebum as he turns around, about to head home. Jaebum turns around eagerly, eyes widened in disbelief. "Really? Can I?" He asks, already climbing the stairs.

"I'm inviting you inside, aren't I?" He enters his house, and tells Jaebum to close the door after him. "Besides, there isn't anyone home." He says as he takes his shoes off, placing them neatly on the side. Jaebum does the same.

"Where are your parents now?" Jaebum asks, following Jinyoung into the kitchen. Jinyoung opens the fridge and passes Jaebum a cold can of soda. Jaebum gratefully takes it. 

"They don't live with us. They work overseas and cone back every other month." Jinyoung says, a bottle of water in his hand. He beckons Jaebum to follow him to his room.

"So, who do you live with, then?" Jaebum asks as they ascend the stairs to Jinyoung's room. Jaebum almost spits out the soda he was drinking when his mind supplied him with the thought that Jinyoung has a great ass. Recently, Jaebum's been thinking about Jinyoung a lot. Like how cute Jinyoung looks when he smiles or laughs or if his hand would fit just right in his, or if his lips would feel as soft as they looked. Really, Jaebum's been thinking about Jinyoung in a romantic light, and he finds out that he doesn't mind that much. But he's fine the way they are now, too. But, if Jinyoung does give him some kind of sign or whatsoever, he'd definitely want to give them a chance. 

Jinyoung's been speaking but he didn't hear any of it. Jaebum feels his heart drop to the floor, he never knew accepting that he was gay (or bi) was this easy. But that wasn't what made Jaebum's heart drop, it was the fact that it was so easy to fall in love with the man in front of him. And the fact that because he likes Jinyoung, he won't make a move, he won't say or do anything that would make Jinyoung suspicious, because then, Jinyoung would distance himself. Jaebum doesn't want that. 

Jinyoung opens the door to his room and Jaebum's amazed at the amount of books Jinyoung has. It was all neatly placed on a wooden bookshelf and in front it was Jinyoung's bed. Jaebum gazes ludicrously at it. In the plain blue and browns of Jinyoung's room, was a pastel pink blanket. Jaebum looks at Jinyoung curiously, finding said man to be the same color as the sheets. Jinyoung looked like he was burning the blanket with his eyes, lips in a slight pout and cheeks dusted with pink. Jaebum barks out a laugh, startling Jinyoung. Jaebum wraps his hand with Jinyoung's, pulling him close before throwing both of them on the bed. The bed was really soft and they bounced a few times. Jinyoung had started laughing as well, wrapping his legs around Jaebum's and resting his head on his chest, showing Jaebum the top of his head. Jaebum holds the back of Jinyoung's neck and as he watches Jinyoung's body vibrating alongside with his, he thinks he can get used to this.

They stop laughing after a while, leaving a pleasant atmosphere around them. Jinyoung hasn't untangled himself from Jaebum, so in turn, Jaebum hasn't let go of Jinyoung either. Jinyoung has to look up when he talks to Jaebum though, and everytime he does it, Jaebum's heart skips a beat. Sometimes, Jaebum tucks his hair under his ear, and everytime Jinyoung's breath hitches. Jaebum doesn't notice though, he's too busy wishing Jinyoung would cut his hair so that people would see how gorgeous he looked. Jaebum also wonders if Jinyoung can even see underneath that much hair, he settles for asking that.

"Hey, Jinyoungie, when are you going to cut your hair?" Jaebum asks, playing with the strands of his bangs. His hair is fine, but his bangs just really cover his face, it reaches up to the tip of his nose. 

"Huh, why?" Jinyoung asks, confusedly. He's never bothered to cut his hair anyway, but his sisters insist on cutting his hair regularly, and Jinyoung even fought for his bangs to be kept long. And now Jaebum's asking him to cut it?

"I can't see your face very well. And can you even see mine underneath that? It's like walking around blindfolded." Jaebum jokes, laughing when Jinyoung tries to push him off, rolling his eyes but Jaebum can see the endearment. He pulls Jinyoung close again, and Jinyoung sighs contentedly. They talk some more until the sun is down and the moon smiles at them from Jinyoung's open windows. 

 

\---

They cuddled like that until Jinyoung makes Jaebum go home because it's scary to go home at night and Jaebum's house is far away. Jaebum doesn't complain, he didn't even intend on staying. Jaebum recalls this, as he passes by the gates of his school, and walks to his and Youngjae's meeting place. Jaebum remembers Jinyoung seeing him off in a jacket that's too big for him and now Jaebum wants to see Jinyoung wrapped up in his clothes. He turns bashful at the thought and he ducks his head to will away the blush threatening to rise. He spots Youngjae from here and sees him talking to someone slightly taller than him. It's normal to see Youngjae talking to others when he waits for him. Jaebum voids his face of emotion before walking up to the two. 

You can only imagine Jaebum's surprise when he sees Jinyoung, his face visible and bangs cut short. It falls on his thick eyebrows and Jaebum takes notice of Jinyoung's pretty, sparkling eyes, trained on him. Jaebum glances towards Jinyoung's full, pink lips, parted slightly as if he was in the middle of saying something. He looks softer like this, Jaebum thinks with gross endearment. Jaebum also thinks he's being hyperaware with Jinyoung and snaps out of it.

"Jinyoung-ah! What're you doing here?" He says as he runs to them, backpack clutched in his right hand. Youngjae smiles at him mischievously and waves a finger in front of him. "Hyung! I was just talking to Jinyoung-hyung about you!" Youngjae laughs when Jaebum pales, and Jinyoung cackles evilly with Youngjae. Jaebum shoots a half-hearted glare at the both of them.

"Hey, brat. I'm your hyung." Jaebum grumbles to Youngjae as he fake-wrestles him in a choke-hold. Youngjae laughs loudly, coming in bursts and struggles hard. When he finally breaks free, he quickly takes a few steps away from Jaebum and waves goodbye to Jinyoung enthustiatically. He (tries to) discreetly winks to Jaebum, fingers pointed at him and shooting rapidly before taking off the hallway. 

Jaebum turns to Jinyoung, who's still smiling. Jaebum raises an eyebrow before clearing his throat. Jinyoung snaps out of it, slightly jumping. He turns his attention to Jaebum, who can't seem to look him in the eye. Jaebum starts walking, and Jinyoung easily keeps up with him. "So, Jinyoungie, why'd you cut your hair?" Jaebum asks, inspecting Jinyoung's hair. Jinyoung preens under Jaebum's gaze, turning slightly pink and tucking his bangs to his right ear, a habit he seemed to form when he had longer ones. 

"Well, you said yesterday that you couldn't see my face, so I had my sister cut it for me." Jinyoung says, eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. Jaebum gapes at him like a fish, opening and closing his mouth but doesn't say anything. Jinyoung steals a glance at him and quickly looks away after. His cheeks turn a shade darker from their previous color and Jaebum smirks, his speechlessness seemingly broken when Jinyoung quickly adds, "Besides, it was getting hard to see. Don't be so full of yourself." Jinyoung huffs adorably and Jaebums screeches. Students turn to look at Jaebum because he just doesn't do that. He's the chic and sexy Im Jaebum. And Jaebum himself realizes this, he hasn't been acting like himself recently, or maybe he's been acting like his real self recently. Whichever, he's sure that Jinyoung is the cause. 

Jinyoung looks at him weirdly, and Jaebum reaches over to pinch his cheeks. He coos, "Aww, does Jinyoungie want me to see his face?" And when Jinyoung swats away his hand and fastens his walk, Jaebum only laughs louder, stopping briefly to hold his stomach. He catches up to Jinyoung easily though, and as they walk up the stairs to Jinyoung's room, Jaebum feels an unmistakable feeling shooting through his body. Jaebum smiles widely to himself. He feels light today. 

Class stays busy as usual, boring lessons being taught to students, students diligently copying notes and the lazier students dozing off in the back of the class. Jaebum was looking out the window, daydreaming about nothing in particular (read: Park Jinyoung) when his phone vibrates. He glances warily at his teacher, who seems to have noticed nothing. He opens up his phone under his desk, finding a text from Jackson. It read:

'DUDE HAVE U SEEN JINYOUNGS HAIR??!?' 

Jaebum smiles to himself, wanting to reply to Jackson that yes, he has and Jinyoung cut his hair for him. He settles for: 'yeah, why?' And he knows he doesn't have to wait long to receive a reply from Jackson. He feels his phone vibrate on his hand nd he quickly opens the message to relieve his boredom. It read: 'nothing just thought that jinyoungs looking prettier these days' followed by numerous blushing emojis that piss Jaebum off for some reason. He rolls his eyes and goes to put his phone away when it vibrates one more time. He opens it, expecting more teasing but gets another surprise instead. He gapes at his phone and his knuckles turn white around his phone. The message reads: 'also i invited jinyoung to our table in the cafeteria the boys said theyll be there' Jaebum doesn't know how to react to this. He knows that Jackson and Jinyoung are now close and that Mark is like his long-lost brother and that Yugyeom practically worships Jinyoung (despite the endless teasing) but he doesn't know Youngjae or Bambam yet. Wouldn't it be awkward? 

Actually, that really isn't what Jaebum's worried about. He has no doubt that Jinyoung and his friends would get along well. But he's rather worried about how he himself will act in front of Jinyoung with his friends. He's aware that Jaebum from the past is all sharp tongue and quick wits and fake wrestling, but the Jaebum now is a softie. Constantly smiling, softer edges and a much more confortable and chill presence to be with. And as Jaebum said before, he hasn't been hanging out with them lately. So he doesn't know how they'll react to this change. He blames Jinyoung for making him so soft. 

Jaebum doesn't reply. He's overreacting, anyways. And he's sure that even if he turns soft in front of them, he installed enough fear in them to know what's going to happen if they tease him in front of Jinyoung. He hasn't realized that the period has already passed and the school bell rings signaling the end of class and the start of lunch break. Students run out of the class quickly, hoping to avoid the long cafeteria line. He walks out leisurely into the classroom left to his. He spots Mark almost immediately, his auburn hair like a sore thumb in the sea of black, looking apologetic to a girl who seems to be scolding him. Jaebum waits until the girl is done and looks like he has forgiven Mark. He waves him over and Mark quickly goes, thankful for the distraction. Jaebum eyes him suspiciously. 

"What'd you do this time?" Jaebum asks Mark who appears nonchalant as if he wasn't scolded a few minutes ago. They start walking towards the cafeteria which is two floors down from where they are.

"I forgot to help clean yesterday." Mark shrugs and adds, "It's okay now, though." Mark faces him and grins, showing off his pearly teeth. This probably means that Mark charmed his way out of this one, again. Jaebum envies Mark when he does that. While Mark has a kind of boyish charm, Jaebum has a rougish charm. So everytime he tries to charm someone, it'll look intimidating or like he wants to sleep with them. He sighs, he just wants to get out of trouble.

They jog down the stairs, and Mark asks, "Jinyoungie's gonna eat with us today, right?" and Jaebum's eyes widen at how comfortably Jinyoung's name rolled off Mark's tongue. He only saw them talk like, twice. Also, "Jinyoungie?" He thinks aloud incredulously, and he immediately flushes when Mark laughs at him. He didn't mean to say that out loud. Mark continues down the stairs and jumps the last five steps. He grins at Jaebum and says, "We've talked a lot the past few weeks, when you're waiting for him outside and we text each other all the time." He motions texting while Jaebum gapes at him. Jinyoung hasn't even given Jaebum his phone number, and Mark has it already? He huffs, finally catching up with Mark and they walk together towards the cafeteria. The cafeteria is always full of students and Jaebum hopes that one of them has had the decency to stand in line already. They enter the noisy cafeteria and they have to squeeze themselves towards their table, Mark leaving him as soon as he steps foot in the cafeteria. He recalls him saying that he saw Jackson in line, and promptly went to go with him. So now Jaebum has to fend for himself as he makes his way to the spacious table in the middle of the cafeteria. He spots some suspicious looking students loitering near their table, and once he sees the table, he immediately understands why. Jaebum rolls his eyes as he coolly walks to the table, you'd think after seeing him with Jinoyung for so long, this would already look normal. He plops himself next to Jinyoung, who's busy burying his nose in a book. He jumps, and holds his heart with his free hand.

"Jesus, it's just you, hyung." Jinyoung says as he pants dramatically, still clutching at his heart. Jaebum smiles widely, not showing his teeth but giving Jinyoung his undivided attention. "But, hyung, I'm glad that you came. It was starting to get lonely here." Jinyoung says breathily, warily looking around. He's probably talking about the students talking about him earlier. Jaebum has to look around to glare at the students and he feels satisfaction seeing the students cower from his strong gaze.

"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised that you agreed to sit with us though." Jaebum scratches at the two moles he has above his eye, and fiddles with his phone in the other hand. He's suddenly aware that he's sitting too close to Jinyoung even though there are many seats available. He goes to move away when Jinyoung holds the wrist of his left hand, the one scratching his eye, stopping his movements. He looks at Jinyoung curiously, and sees the concern in his eyes. He vaguely hears Jinyoung scolding him for scratching his eye but it blurs out when Jinyoung leans up to take a closer look. He puts down his hand while Jinyoung examines his eye, but Jinyoung still hasn't let go of his wrist and Jaebum's afraid that he'll feel the quickening heartbeat against his hand. 

He quickly jerks away when he spots Yugyeom from a mile away. He doesn't look at Jinyoung after that. I mean, how could he? When his eyes looked up at him with so much softness that he didn't even know could exist within one person and his lips parting with words he couldn't hear, glistening with spit, and looking as soft as his bed when he's deprived of sleep. Jaebum's surprised that he still has self-control after meeting Park Jinyoung. Yugyeom runs to the table, Youngjae and Bambam in tow, and he throws himself at Jinyoung, hugging him from behind. 

"Hyung! Didn't expect to see you here!" Yugyeom says loudly, turning to introduce his friends to Jinyoung. He points to Youngjae and says, "This is Youngjae, he's a year above us but you can't really tell." He laughs as Youngjae squawks at him to shut up. He points to Bambam, who's normally relaxed and chill, but he's fidgeting in front of Jinyoung. "This is Kunpimook, but we call him Bambam, his real name is too hard to pronounce." Yugyeom pouts at Jinyoung for reaction, but he only gets a roll of eyes and the others exchange greetings. Yugyeom finally detaches himself from Jinyoung and joins the other two at the other side of the table. 

Youngjae quickly opens up to him, getting friendly in less than a second and his loud laughter dissipates the weird tension Jaebum had going on in his head. He watches as the four of them talk and he's surprised that Jinyoung isn't as shy as he used to be. He expected that since, well, Jinyoung didn't really have friends back then, he'd be a little more socially inept. He looks at Jinyoung, watching him tell them a story about how Yugyeom annoyed him to death that had Yugyeom and Bambam laughing really loudly. His features morph from one emotion to another and Jaebum finds himself lost in Jinyoung's gorgeousness. He studies Jinyoung's face closely, closing in on his favorite feature, Jinyoung's eyes. Ever since Jinyoung cut his hair (which was this morning), he surprised Jaebum by showing him that his eyes were even prettier that his lips. And the way crinkles appear beside his eyes when he laughs is cute. If Jaebum didn't ask him to cut his hair, he would probably still have a hard time trying to see Jinyoung's eyes. 

A loub clang! was heard at Jaebum's left and he startles out of his trance, covering his ear and looking towards the culprit. Jackson jumps lightly, looking delighted while Mark looked really smug. He points at Jaebum and Jinyoung and then says, "Jaebum-hyung was making heart eyes at Jinyoungie!" Jackson squeals while the rest of them, aside from Jaebum and Jinyoung, laughs at Jaebum's spluttering, denying strongly and Jinyoung feigns laughter, covering his whole face just so the others won't see the color on his face.

Finally, the two sit down and they eat, like they should. Lunch continues on like normal, but with the addition of Jinyoung to the group. As they converse with Jinyoung, Jaebum keeps losing himself in Jinyoung's smiles and laughs and he looks around, seeing the others smile brightly and laugh loudly and look so at home with Jinyoung. He looks down briefly and finds Jinyoung's hand drumming against his thigh and Jaebum taps his wrist under the table, Jinyoung glances at him from the corner of his eye but doesn't stop from talking. Jaebum interlaces their hands and Jinyoung lets him. He glances up at Jinyoung from under his lashes and Jinyoung's not looking at him, but he sees a small quirk on his lips and Jaebum settles for that.

Jaebum straightens his back and looks around, with his hands interlaced with Jinyoung's under the table, a matching smile on his face, and wondering why the hell didn't I meet Jinyoung earlier?

 

\--

"Hyung, Mark invited me to that party you're all going to." Jinyoung says, hands in his pockets as he and Jaebum walk home from school. Jinyoung's walking a bit ahead so Jaebum can't see his face. Jaebum raises an eyebrow suspiciously at Jinyoung.

"If you're up to it, sure. Let's go have some fun." Jaebum replies casually.

"But I'm not sure. It's next week, right? No one's home that whole week." Jinyoung says, shoulders slumping. Despite Jinyoung not having friends back then, he told Jaebum tht it was extremely lonely at home when his sisters had to go somewhere for a while.

"I'm sure the house will be fine without anyone home. C'mon, come with us!" Jaebum says, like he wasn't so thrilled when Jackson asked Jaebum to come with him. He looks at Jinyoung's side, trying to figure out what's bothering him. Jinyoung doesn't reply and there's some sort of odd tension in the atmosphere. Jaebum clears his throat, "Damn, Mark was really fast. I was gonna invite you so that you'd accompany me the whole night, that sneaky bastard." He laughs as an effort to lighten up the mood. He thinks its working when Jinyoung finally opens his mouth and says something.

"I don't think you'd need me to accompany you, hyung." He snorts to tease Jaebum about his popularity. Jaebum walks faster to walk alongside him.

"That is not true. Sometimes, the people there are boring. So I'll need my Jinyoungie to keep me entertained." Jaebum jokes, laughing when Jinyoung raises an offended hand to his chest, taking offense. Their laughter dies down a few beats later, and Jaebum adds: 

"Besides, I can never leave you alone, Jinyoung-ah."

Jinyoung shudders lightly, basking in Jaebum's sudden close proximity and low, husky voice. He whips his head to look at Jaebum and he almost shies away when he finds that Jaebum is looking at him. They stop walking, but neither of them noticed. Jinyoung holds Jaebum's gaze steadily, and Jaebum's eyes flicker between his eyes and lips, while Jinyoung mirrors Jaebum's actions, licking his lips unconciously. 

Jaebum groans, tilting his head back and steps away. He looks around quickly and grabs Jinyoung's wrist, muttering, "Come with me." He pulls them towards a small alley he often takes to Bambam's house. No one goes through here anyway. When he finds a blind spot in the middle of two houses, he immediately goes there, pulling a confused Jinyoung with him. He pushes Jinyoung towards the wall and Jaebum drops his bag to the ground. Jinyoung looks at him with an unreadable expression but Jaebum doesn't take notice of it and he grabs Jinyoung's shoulders. He slides them up Jinyoung's smooth neck until he's caressing his soft cheeks. "Jinyoung-ah." Jaebum says breathlessly, and leans in slowly. Jaebum can feel Jinyoung's each breath against his lips and he closes his eyes when nothing but an inch separates their lips. 

But Jaebum is thrown back into reality when his back smashes against the wall opposite of Jinyoung's. He lets out a grunt from the impact and looks at Jinyoung, surprised. Jinyoung looks just as surprised as he is, although a bit more disheveled and he's red from his face to his neck. Jaebum could barely react to this before Jinyoung curses sharply under his breath, but Jaebum could still hear it in the narrow allwy they are in, and Jinyoung suddenly runs. Away from Jaebum, without looking back or saying sorry or even a goodbye. Jaebum could only look at Jinyoung's back until he dissapears from his sight.

Jaebum slides down to the ground when Jinyoung's gone. He buries his head in his knees and sighs. Jaebum wonders where he went wrong, he was sure that when Jaebum gave Jinyoung signals that he wanted the two of them to be more than friends, Jinyoung reciprocated it. He made it clear to Jinyoung that he liked him without saying it out loud, and he was sure that Jinyoung made it clear to him too. Jinyoung isn't an idiot and Jaebum is the very opposite of subtle, often getting teased by the others brcause of his 'heated gaze' towards Jinyoung. Just a while ago, after Jaebum's confession of never wanting to leave him alone, Jinyoung was looking at him the way his past girlfriends would do when he says something they like, Jinyoung looked at him with love and passion. The same way Jaebum was looking at Jinyoung. And will always look at, no matter the circumstances. 

A few minutes pass and he finally gathers the strength to get up and walk home, but not before looking at Jinyoung's house longingly at the distance. He racks his head on why, why, would Jinyoung push him away like that? Jaebum drags his feet against the pavement until he reaches home. He enters, and the first thing he does is drag himself up to his room and sleep, ready for the tiring day to pass. In the back of his mind, he hopes that this was all a nightmare, and he slips off into dreamland.

He dreams of Jinyoung that night, he dreams of them, to be precise. He sees Jinyoung sit next to him in bed, speaking but he can't be heard. It's like Jaebum has cotton in his ears. And then, the look in Jinyoung's eyes change. Suddenly, they're blazing, and it sends a wave of heat down his spine. Jinyoung moves closer, and closer and closer. When there's only an inch between their lips, Jaebum seizes forward, lips only slightly touching, but its enough to satisfy Jaebum. Jinyoung's lips are soft, a lot like they look like and his eyes are closed sweetly. He pushes Jinyoung unto his back on the matress, their lips separating in the process. He climbs on top of him, putting his hands on either side of Jinyoung's face. He looks beautiful, his eyes are sparkiling and his lips are glossy, but not swollen, yet. Jaebum smirks at him and grinds down experimentally against Jinyoung's clothed cock. Jinyoung moans, loud. He holds unto Jaebum's biceps, pulling himself up until his mouth is touching the shell of his ear. Jinyoung's breaths are coming in short bursts and he whispers sensually, "Jaebum-ah." 

Jaebum sits up abruptly, mind still racing from the realistic dream. He glances towards the clock on his bedside and it reads '4:00AM' and promptly groans. He groans again when he looks under the covers and sees an impressive tent in his pants. He swiftly takes off the clothes and thinks of gross things to will away his erection. Or at least he tried to. Jaebum's mind can't seem to settle because he just had a wet dream about Jinyoung. So, needless to say, Jaebum didn't get to go back to sleep. And if Jaebum's mother starts asking where all the tissues in his room went, he'll say he watched a really sad soap opera last night.

 

\-- 

Jaebum still has to go to classes though, so when Youngjae sees the dark circles under his eyes, he's immediately concerned. "Hyung, you look awful. What happened?" Youngjae asks as they walk to Youngjae's room. Jaebum yawns, eyes unconciously searching for a glossy, raven-haired male in the crowd. 

"Nothing happened. Just didn't get much sleep, that's all." He avoids Youngjae's gaze, because he knows the younger can see right through him. It's quiet for a moment between them, both as quiet as it can be when you're walking in a crowded hallway filled with noisy students. He hears Youngjae sigh, which is a good sign, it means he won't prod anymore. 

"You know you can talk to me, right? Jaebum-hyung?" Youngjae emphasizes on his name and Jaebum loves Youngjae, he really does. But Jaebum doesn't even know what's happening between them right now, he can't even talk to himself about this, let alone Youngjae. Besides, he plans on talking to Jinyoung about this later, so hopefully, whatever's going on between them right now, can be resolved quickly.

So Jaebum keeps his mouth shut and puts on the most convincing smile he could muster. He pats Youngjae's shoulder to reassure him that, yes, he will tell Youngjae some time later, just not now. He leaves without looking back at Youngjae because he knows that the younger will know something is wrong just by looking at his face. 

Jaebum goes to his class fairly quickly despite getting stopped by some friends (or more like acquaintances) on his way to the top floor. He also gets stopped by Jackson while climbing the stairs. Jackson smiles widely at him and Jaebum want to run before Jackson opens his big mouth.

But instead, Jackson just runs downstairs, back into his classroom but now before yelling, "Hyung! Don't forget about the party this weekend!" 

Oh, right. The party, the one Jackson invited him to before he talked to Jinyoung. Jinyoung. He's also going to the party right? Jaebum's head is filled with all sorts of thoughts until he gets to his room and classes start and he's still can't seem to pay attention, no matter what he does. And when your head is in the clouds, time seems to pass quickly. So as he strains to hear what his soft-spoken teacher is saying, the school bell rings signalling the start of lunch break. 

Jaebum stretches as the teacher leaves, and watches the other students run to the cafeteria. It's all routine at this point. Ever since Jinyoung joined their friendship circle, all of them eat at the cafeteria instead of on their own with whoever's feeling like eating with them. He fetches Mark from the classroom (or sometimes, Mark goes to his) and they go down together. Jaebum and Mark weren't that close back then, they were just introduced to each other via Jackson and they probably wouldn't talk either if Jackson didn't insist on it. He looks at Mark, who's lightly skipping with a lollipop in his mouth an is humming a song under hi breath. Now that he thinks about it, he's sorta thankful to Jackson for being so outgoing, and introducing him to some of the most incredible people in the universe, but he's not telling him that anytime soon, Jackson's head is big enough as it is.

They arrive at the cafeteria, which is buzzing with many hungry students. The two of them fight their way into their table and Jaebum immediately notices a person missing. He asks as he approaches the table, "Where's Jinyoung?" 

"I don't know, hyung. He just told me that he had something to do and to not wait up for him." Jackson says, when everyone turns to look at him for answers. Jaebum sighs, grabbing the sandwich they got for him and turns back around to the buzzing crowd. 

"I'm gonna look for him, give him some food." He announces before leaving, ignoring the hoots and shouts from his table and ignoring his grumbling stomach to eat with Jinyoung. 

Jaebum's first guess was his classroom, maybe he forgot to do his homework and was doing it right now. But when he gets there, his seat is empty and void of any work. Jaebum asks around if they've seen Jinyoung or know where he is butnone of them know. So Jaebum goes to where he goes hen he wants some time alone, the rooftop. He gets there quickly and he opens the door slowly and peeks in, he only sees a couple being lovey-dovey in the corner, so he concludes that Jinyoung wasn't there. 

Jaebum was getting exhausted and he was hungry, too. So he eats the sandwich while looking for Jinyoung. He checks back to the cafeteria, the boy's washroom, the club rooms, and the library. But he comes back empty handed and tired as the school bell rings. He groans out loud, some students turning to see what is was about, but he doesn't really care. He drags his feet until he gets to his room, immediately burying his head in his arms and resting. He tells himself to just catch him later at the gate before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

It wasn't until later he's being urgently shook by Mark in his room, sun already setting and the sky a pretty hue of orange when he awakes. He looks around and finds none of his classmates, all of then have gone home. He curses them out under his breath. Mark's saying something but Jaebum still isn't in his right mind just yet. He settles for nodding along to what Mark's saying until the cotton in his ears have been taken away and he hears what Mark's talking about. 

"This is like, the first time I've seen you go home without Jinyoung." Mark says lightly, gathering Jaebum's things into his bag so that they could go home faster. Jaebum's feeling thankful until a thought crashes into him.

"Oh shit, Jinyoung!" Jaebum thinks out loud, again. He groans again, sliding a heavy palm down his face. He just missed out on talking to Jinyoung today. "Did he go home with Jackson and Bambam?" He adds, hoping that Jinyoung didn't go home alone. 

Mark shakes his head, "No, they went to the new cafe that opened last week with Youngjae." He zips up Jaebum's bag, holding it out to him as Jaebum seethes suddenly. Mark takes a step back. 

"What? So Jinyoung had to go home alone?!" Jaebum says in outrage. His hands were fisted at his side as he imagines Jinyoung going home, all alone and without Jaebum at his side. He narrows his eyes at Mark, "Where are they?" Jaebum says lowly, frowning dangerously. Mark stares at him with wide eyes.

"Jaebum, chill out. They invited him anyway, but he said no." Mark pushes his bag against his chest and adds, "Yugyeom also had to go home alone, too. What are you so angry about?" Jaebum takes several deep breaths and he looks down, ashamed already. He take his bag from Mark and Mark looks at him with questioning eyes before turning away to go home, Jaebum following a few steps behind. The two of them live near each other, only a few blocks away and it's a short walk home, but none of them speak all the way. Mark only offers him a concerned look and a soft, 'see ya' before he leaves Jaebum alone in his own thoughts as he walks towards home. 

Jaebum goes home feeling confused, a bit pissed off and a bit scared. He's got this bad premonition in his gut, and all of it leads and ends with Jinyoung. Jaebum plans on going to school early for once and catching Jinyoung at the gates. As Jaebum slowly walks home, he hopes that whatever's going on between them will settle. 

 

\-- 

 

Jaebum looms on the side of the gate, one foot tapping anxiously against the concrete. He's already seen Yugyeom, that morning bird, and they talked for a bit and it calmed Jaebum's nerves a little. But that was fifteen minutes ago and now Jaebum's back to being jumpy. He looks aroung fervously for another three minutes before, finally, he spots Jinyoung walking towards him. He has his oversized hoodie on again, hiding his face. Jaebum beams. 

When Jinyoung's close enough, Jaebum raises a hand to wave and softly greets, "Jinyoung-ahー" But Jinyoung just passes by, completely ignoring him. Jaebum's hand hangs in the air for a few moments in shock before he snaps out of it and calls out, "Hey, Jinyoung!" Students are starting to look and Jaebum would bask at the attention if he didn't know that Jinyoung hated it, and Jinyoung continues to walk away, head down, Jaebum calls out to him once, twice, thrice more. But Jinyoung just won't look at him. Why won't Jinyoung look at him?

Jaebum feels his temper flare at Jinyoung and he moves to chase him. He walks with long strides, catching up to Jinyoung quickly before harshly grabbing the back of his hoodie, exposing the familiar glossy hair that Jaebum loves to pet. 

Jaebum's still holding the hood and he says lowly, almost growling, "Yah, Park Jinyoung." Then Jinyoung finally looks at him. Jaebum half-expects Jinyoung to take out his earphones and say, "Oh, hyung! Sorry, what were you saying?" And gaze up at him with his starry eyes. Or, "I heard you've been looking for me yesterday, hyung. D'you miss me already?" In his light, joking tone. 

Instead, Jinyoung glares at him with an unreadable glint in his eyes. Jaebum flinches back involuntarily, not letting go of Jinyoung. He can see that Jinyoung's back to being closed off, like he was back then. His eyes are guarded once again, and Jaebum wonders what could he have done that was so wrong. Jinyoung grabs his hood and roughly yanks it out of Jaebum's grasp. 

Jaebum lets him, and he realizes that yesterday, when he was looking for Jinyoung, he wasn't gone, he was avoiding him. Jinyoung hates him now. Jaebum curses his feelings and Jinyoung's mixed signals. If only, Jaebum didn't act on his feelings two days ago. If only, Jaebum kept to himself, like Jinyoung, some more. If only, maybe then, Jinyoung could be by his side once more. 

Rejection was a bad look on Jaebum, that's why he was usually the one that broke hearts. But now, experiencing it for the first time, he wishes he was more considerate towards those girls, because this hurts. This is probably payback for all those times he's played around, made them hope, then crush their hearts. Because he wants Jinyoung so bad, it hurts just to think that Jinyoung doesn't feel the same way, that Jinyoung won't be friends with him again, that Jinyoung can't even look him in the face without being disgusted with him. 

For the first time in his life, Jaebum feels miserable. The day passes in a blur, he's ignored everyone in favor of indulging himself in the fantasies that could've been. He only perks up when Jinyoung's name is involved and even that wasn't said much. The boys noticed his behavior but he hopes none of them actually catch on. 

So, naturally when he gets home he immediately flops onto his bed and loses himself. He doesn't cry, no, Jaebum doesn't do that. But he doesn't sleep either, he just looks, far away. 

He doesn't go to school for the next two days.

'So this is what it feels to be empty.' Crosses Jaebum's mind a lot in those two days. He doesn't want to get up or eat or bathe, he just wants to be alone. He's glad that his parents are too nice and let him pretend to be sick as a front so that he doesn't go to school. The others text him a lot, asking where he is, why he didn't go to school, and just texting him a bunch of crap. Jaebum doesn't reply, not having the energy despite lying around all day. Youngjae makes an effort to ask how he is everyday, Jackson and Bambam spam him constantly, and Yugyeom had texted him Jinyoung's whereabouts. Jaebum squints hard at his screen at his text, because one: He was sure Yugyeom had a sixth sense for these kind of things, and two: Jaebum wanted to know how Jinyoung's doing, despite the miserable state he put Jaebum in.

He also doesn't stop from thinking about Jinyoung even though it causes him pain, the rejection still an open wound on his chest. Sometimes, he entertains the fantasy of kissing Jinyoung, softly, roughly, with tongue, with teeth, or just a simple peck on his pretty lips. He imagines how Jinyoung would look in his clothes, his slightly smaller form making Jaebum's clothes look big on him, it'll look cute, Jaebum knows. He imagines falling asleep on Jinyoung's shoulder while he reads, and when he wakes up he'll see Jinyoung leaning against him too, soft with sleep. Jaebum knows it's a dangerous game to play when daydreaming, but it's hard not to when it's so easy.

So he doesn't stop and that's how Mark catches him, eyes shining with unshed tears and a bitter sort of happiness radiating from him. Jaebum quickly snaps out of his dream when Mark enters his room uninvited. Mark shut the door quietly behind himself and doesn't turn on the lights. He makes a beeline for Jaebum's bed, sitting on it and he bounces lightly. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Mark asks, eyes searching for Jaebum's in the dark.

"M'fine. Just tired." Jaebum scratches his left eye lazily, not meeting Mark's eyes. He can feel Mark roll his eyes at him, can hear him thinking, 'yeah, right' but he doesn't voice it, he never does. Instead, Mark offers him a can of beer he took out from his backpack, it's not that cold anymore and Jaebum hates warm beer but he takes it anyway, it'll do. Mark doesn't say anything, he just sympathizes with him, Jaebum can see it from his wavering, unfocused eyes. It's a bit awkward, Jaebum drinking in silence, but it doesn't stop him. He doesn't know how many he drank, Mark just keeps producing more from his bag like it's a factory in there. Jaebum, of course, gets wasted and at one point, he thinks he told Mark about it. He's not sure but he remembers speaking a lot and crying a little (a lot). Mark probably said something about it but Jaebum doesn't really remember, he didn't even hear at all. Maybe that was what Mark wanted, for Jaebum to get wasted and reveal his life story to him, to let it all out, that bastard. He groans, his head pounding so hard he's seeing white, and Mark is still speaking in the background and oh God, is that Jackson? Obviously, he passes out. 

He wakes up the next day with a pounding headache, a clean bedroom, pills and water on his bedside, and a note. It says, "Go to school tomorrow, Jaebum" from Mark. Jaebum flops back into bed after drinking, prepared to sleep the whole day but he feels thankful that Mark came. He feels (a bit) better, if not ready to move on. Maybe all he needed was someone to talk to, after all. He can do without the headache but the company yesterday was oddly comforting. He ponders this as he slips off to sleep, eyelids growing heavy as he thinks of tomorrow.

Oh, how wrong he was.

"Mark, hide me." Jaebum hisses to Mark the next day, sounding like a dying whale while holding onto the lapels of Mark and Youngjae's blazers, knocking their heads together. 

Jinyoung passes by the gate of their school, looking pretty and shit, what's new. Moving on, my ass. Jaebum thinks as he continues to shield himself from Jinyoung, not exactly knowing that he's causing a scene. Jinyoung doesn't look anyway and he practically runs to the stairs, confirming that he is still ignoring Jaebum, but not the others. Mark snorts when Jinyoung is gone, and Jaebum glares at him, he's never telling Mark anything again, because he told everyone.

Now, they keep giving him sad eyes and Jaebum doesn't want that, he wants Jinyoung, not their pity.

At least now he could mope around without looking weird around them anymore. Jinyoung doesn't come to their table anymore, and Jaebum mopes at that too. At least now, he has someone to take care of him when he gets drunk every night leading to the party, he doesn't want to think of him anymore, so he drinks it all away. Goes to school the next day out of sorts, and repeats the cycle. It's not healthy, they keep telling him and he knows, but it helps him get Jinyoung out of his mind, and isn't that what really matters?

He still pines after him, of course. Drinking also helps with that, he can fantasize all he wants and he won't feel guilty about it the next day. So that's what he does until friday, the party. 

There's a lot of people here, Jaebum thinks as he greets person after person. He'd been drinking for a while now since they came by two hours ago, so Jaebum's pretty inebriated by now. He was with Yugyeom just a while ago but he ran off to find Bambam somewhere and left him to fend by himself clumsily. He saw Mark a little while ago chatting with some guys with Jackson (?) but he didn't want to interrupt. Youngjae had been on the dance floor, ironically singing on the top of his lungs, poor boy was more drunk than he was. And of course, he'd been looking for Jinyoung unconciously. Jaebum felt disappointed and relieved at the same time, and he downed another shot that was given to him by some stranger. 

Many, many drinks later, after he'd been wailing about Jinyoung to this girl who didn't seem interested anymore, Jaebum remembered that Jinyoung had told him that on the night of the party, no one would be home, which means that Jinyoung was at home right now, alone. At this opportunity, he suddenly straightens his back, startling the girl he'd been talking to and he practically ran outside the increasingly loud and rowdy party. Jaebum had forgotten his jacket and was stuck with the cold as he walked to Jinyoung's which was in the other side of town, but none of this mattered because to drunk Jaebum, this opportunity is his best chance at getting together with Jinyoung and although he didn't have a plan and he's running on alcohol for fuel, Jaebum still swayed determinedly towards Jinyoung's with frozen fingers and numb legs. 

After what feels like forever, Jaebum's finally in front of Jinyoung house, the surroundings familiar. The walk to his house did nothing to sober Jaebum up, so he was still out of it. He banged noisily on Jinyoung's door, demanding him to get out while he screamed Jinyoung's name desperately over and over again. This continued for two hours (minutes?) until finally, Jinyoung hastily opens the door, looking disheveled but alert in his oversized sweater and pajamas. Jaebum gapes at him and he covers his mouth as Jinyoung quickly pulls him inside, letting a few tears slip as he looks at Jinyoung up close again. If Jackson were here, he'd never live this down. 

"What the hell, Jaebum? It's 2:00AM! You're disturbing the neighbors, moron!" Jinyoung chastises as he leads him down the hallway, hand clutching at his wrist. Jinyoung stops suddenly and Jaebum bumps into his back, not-so-discreetly smelling his hair. Jinyoung looks at his unfocused eyes, and narrows his eyes at him. 

"You didn't walk here drunk out of your mind, did you? God, I thought you were smarter than this. And in this thin shirt? It's freezing outside!" Jinyoung leaves him standing in the middle of the living room and Jaebum just stands there, looking at Jinyoung's retreating backside. Jaebum follows him after a beat, finding Jinyoung in the kitchen, heating some tea. It seems that Jaebum is more stealthy when he's drunk because Jinyoung doesn't sense him coming until Jaebum's breathing down his neck, arms curling around Jinyoung's thin waist as he ravishes the side of his neck, chapped lips roughly kissing downwards and Jinyoung gasps loudly. He twists around to push Jaebum away, but the latter takes it as an invitation. Jaebum slides his arms away from Jinyoung's waist and he holds Jinyoung's face in his cold hands. He pushes forward until their lips are touching and Jaebum sighs contentedly, finally kissing the man he's been pining on for months. Jaebum deepens the kiss when Jinyoung doesn't respond, lips firmly sealed on his, and he mouths against Jinyoung's bottom lip, urging him to open his lips and Jinyoung, although tentatively, opens his mouth and kisses back slightly. The moment is cut short when Jinyoung snaps back, pulling away quickly but Jaebum won't let him, pulling his face closer. Jinyoung pushes at him now, gasping for air and telling him to stop in between. Jinyoung gathers the last of his strength and pushes him away. Jaebum stumbles back a few steps and almost trips on his feet but Jinyoung beats him to it. Jinyoung punches him square in the face and gets knocked down. Jaebum doesn't register the pain but his ears are ringing and Jinyoung is panting loudly above him. Jaebum lies down on the kitchen tiles until black spots appear in his sight and he finally passes out.

 

\---

 

Jaebum groans, vision swimming as he sits up in a familiar room. He sits straighter when he realizes that this is Jinyoung's room. And he doesn't know how he got here. A sharp pain shoots through his head at the sudden motion and he yelps loudly, holdong his head in his hands until it subsides. The door creaks open and Jinyoung comes in, face stormy and holding a tray of water, hot tea and medicine. Jaebum just looks at him, mouth open with the intention of saying something, apologizing but where does he start? 

"Jinyoung, Iー" Jaebum rasps out but Jinyoung hands him the water and the medicine, and Jaebum lets him speak first. 

"Drink this first, talk to me when you're better." Is all Jinyoung tells him, voice tight and face even more guarded than before. He leaves the room quickly after that, slamming the door behind him and Jaebum wonders worriedly what he'd done again. 

Since talking to Jinyoung while he's hungover is a a bad idea, Jaebum spends that morning sleeping after following Jinyoung's orders. Jaebum feels a lot better in the afternoon, headache easily gone when he's been dealing with it almost everyday. He decides to wash his face before coming down to talk to Jinyoung, checking if his appearance doesn't look too bad. He's still wearing the same clothes from yesterday but he doesn't look shabby. Jabum daintily steps down the stairs, feet light as to not make a sound. He finds Jinyoung in the living room, reading in silence. Jinyoung looks peaceful like this, immersed in the book he's holding and breathing even. But as much as Jaebum loves seeing Jinyoung read, they still have much to discuss. He stops a few feet away from the couch and clears his throat loudly, and Jinyoung jumps from his previous fetal position to sit rigidly. Jaebum doesn't come closer. 

"Jinyoung-ah," Jaebum starts, throat closing up slightly when Jinyoung boldly meets his eyes. "I'm sorry." 

"For what?" Jinyoung says icily, his eyes are still trailed on Jaebum's, looking for a challenge but at the same time, he looks tired. 

"For last week and..." Jaebum swallows audibly, looking at the carpet beneath his feet guiltily. "For last night." 

Silence passes and Jaebum looks up, curious and afraid of Jinyoung's reaction, because Jaebum remembers last night, he sobered up while he was left alone in the living room but something just snapped inside of him when he sees Jinyoung so close after pining after him for months already, then getting his feeling reciprocated for a while then ignored for no damn reason. He wasn't fully in control of his actions that night, his heart did all the work, but he knows what he's done and he didn't stop himself despite Jinyoung's protests. 

Jinyoung's back is turned to him again and he's tapping his book lightly when he says firmly, "Right. Get out of my house." 

Jaebum gapes at him as Jinyoung stands up, and walks up to him. He grabs Jaebum by the shirt and drags him to the door but Jaebum won't budge. "Wait, Jinyoung. No, can't we talk this out?" He pleads, holding Jinyoung's wrist and stands his ground.

"You already had your chance, Jaebum." Jinyoung continues to drag him out his house unsuccessfully. 

"Jinyoung, wait. Answer this and I'll leave. For good." Jaebum waits until Jinyoung stops trying and finally stands still to hear him out, glaring at him from under his bangs. "Why'd you kiss me back last night?" Jaebum questions, looking at Jinyoung's face carefully, looking for answers. Jinyoung looks taken aback at this question and he hesitates, and that's enough of an answer for Jaebum.

"I-it was just an impulse, a spur of the moment. It didn't mean anything." Somehow, it sounds insincere. Jaebum frowns 

"I don't believe that." 

Jinyoung flares up at Jaebum's remark and he starts pushing Jaebum again. "Then don't. Now, get out." 

Jaebum's temper also flares up at this and he grows frustated. He pushes Jinyoung away, making him stumble a few steps and fall back unto the couch and growling, "Why are you so dead-set on ignoring me? I haven't done anything wrong." 

"Fuck you, Jaebum! I can't fall in love with you!" Jinyoung practically screams, rising to stab a finger in Jaebum's chest. "Not when I already have and not when I know you're just playing with me." He hisses and stays in Jaebum's personal space, challenging him. 

"Played with youー When have I played with you? Huh?" Jaebum feels outraged, every single thing he's said and done, they were all sincere. Hurt replaces his outrage. How could Jinyoung think that, even for a moment?

"Don't pretend with me. I know." Jinyoung rolls his eyes, stepping away from Jaebum. When Jaebum doesn't say anything, Jinyoung elaborates. "You told me when we met that you wanted to become friends with me because I'm gay." Jinyoung deadpans. Jaebum's still confused. 

"What does that have to do with anything?"

It's Jinyoung's turn to look confused. "So obviously, I don't want to be the guy you experiment with." He sounds small now, like he's doubting his words. 

Inmediately, Jaebum starts to shake his head and arms around frantically. "No! God, no. Where'd you get that idea? Iー Look, it'sー" Jaebum takes both of Jinyoung's hands in his and he takes a deep breath before continuing, much more calmly, "Let me tell you, Jinyoung, from the start." Said man looks wary, but relieved all the same. Jaebum eagerly looks into Jinyoung's eyes, which glimmer with hope. And if Jinyoung notices his clammy hands and steadily increasing heart rate, it'll be a testament to his feelings, that they are 100% real.

"I'll be honest, I talked to you because there were these nosy jerks gossiping about you, and you know how much I hate those." Jaebum pauses to wrinkle his nose as he remembers them and Jinyoung hides his chuckle with a cough and Jaebum smiles warmly at him before continuing, "But then you were different, you weren't eager to talk to me like the others and I appreciated having to introduce myself again, I was the one who became eager to talk to you. But you refused to talk to me so I had some help in the form of Bambam and Jackson."

This time, Jinyoung does chuckle and it sounds so, so soothing. Jaebum would kill to hear it again. "I started walking home with you, even though my home was in the other side of town. I asked you again of we could be friends, right? And you forgave me just like that. You were so honest with me that day, it was refreshing from the usual secretive people I'm used to dealing with."

Jaebum hesitates, but pulls Jinyoung closer. "At first, it was kind of a pain. It was awkward as hell, it was like I was talking to air. But then you warmed up to me, and then I started to have fun, this friendship wasn't one-sided anymore! I started to look forward to these walks everyday unconsciously. And everyday, I learned something new about you. I loved that I was the only one who knew these little things, it was like sharing secrets." Jaebum untangles their hands to rest them on Jinyoung's waist, swaying them slightly. On instinct, Jinyoung wraps his arms around Jaebum's neck and buries his nose in the crook of Jaebum's slender neck, hiding his face from sight. Jaebum's thankful that Jinyoung can't see his red face but the heat on his neck says otherwise. They dance slightly, swaying slightly and just simply basking in each other's warm embrace.

"Then... I started to notice things about you. Normal things, that I wouldn't have to look at twice in anybody else, but you... You just made it so special." Jaebum lets out an appreciative hum and he feels Jinyoung smile against his neck. "I started noticing your smile and your laugh, it was all so addicting. The way your clothes always look so comfortable around you, the way you talk about your interests, the way you listen to me, to anybody with your full attention, it was all so fascinating to me. Oh! And when you cut your hair, and I was finally able to see your face and your eyes. I swear I could get lost in those all the time. The first time I saw it fully, I couldn't look away. Remember when we were at the cafeteria and Jackson caught me? I couldn't deny it. It's like you're holding the whole universe in them. Anyway, my point is your eyes are really beautiful." Jaebum coughs awkwardly at his own cheesiness and Jinyoung giggles.

"Then it went downhill from there. I almost lost myself that one time. I really thought that you were giving me like, signals, y'know? So I thought it'd be okay to do that. Apparently not. You were sending some really mixed signals, Jinyoungie." It's Jaebum's turn to chuckle. "I got really depressed when you started ignoring me, you know. You rejected me, so that hurt quite a lot. I also developed some bad habits like drinking, it helped me with the heartache." Jinyoung removes his arms and steps to move away but Jaebum hold him tightly in place. "You don't need to feel guilty. It's my fault. I expected too much and jumped to conclusions. But..." Jaebum slides his fingers lightly across Jinyoung's chest until he's holding Jinyoung's face in his hands, carressing them lightly. He holds Jinyoung's gaze steadily.

"I still really, really like you, Park Jinyoung. With all my heart and soul. You have to believe me. I can never play with your feelings like that." Jaebum confesses, clearly and almost desperately. Jinyoung can see the sincerity in his eyes. When Jaebum is sure that he has delivered his message, he places his forehead on Jinyoung's and he closes his eyes. "I still need an answer, Jinyoung. Why'd you kiss me back last night?" 

Silence is their companion for a few beats and every second passes with Jaebum anxious for Jinyoung's answer. He's getting ready for rejection when Jinyoung mumbles softly, so softly that Jaebum wouldn't have heard it if he wasn't anticipating Jinyoung's answer.

"Dumbass. I kissed back because I like you, too." Jaebum gasps in joy and moves away to celebrate but he gets stopped when Jinyoung holds the back of his neck, keeping him in place. "For a while now, too. So, hear me out as well." Jaebum calms down and he reaches down to hold Jinyoung's waist again, rubbing comforting circles there. "When you first talked to me, you looked too good to be true. Of course I knew who you were, who didn't? But I didn't want to come off as too eager, so I pretended. I never saw myself associated with you in any way, so you just suddenly barging into my life was a surprise. And it was a pleasant surprise, you know. I saw high school as a part of my life where I just had to just study and keep to myself for a few years, but you changed that. Through you, walking home didn't seem too bad, I didn't feel alone anymore. Through you, I met Jackson and the others, some of the greatest people I've ever met. Jaebum, you being here has made a huge impact to my life, even if I don't show it and you don't see it. I used to just get by everyday, but now, I look forward to everyday, if it means I could spend more time with you." Jinyoung gulps loudly, a tell-tale sign that he's nervous. Jaebum catches Jinyoung's eyes trailing on his lips. 

"Obviously, Jaebum, I like you too." Jinyoung whispers at the same time that Jaebum says, quite abruptly, "Can I kiss you?"

Jinyoung blinks away, taken aback at Jaebum's forwardness. He recovers quickly, giggling as his eyes turn into crescents and the hand on the back of his neck dissapears as he cups Jaebum's face with both hands and pulls him forward until they're kissing softly. Jinyoung's lips are barely there, but they are so much softer than they look, much, much softer than any girls he's kissed before. Jaebum surges forward, kissing Jinyoung fully. Jaebum thinks, with fervor, that he could get used to this. The way their lips slot together, the way Jinyoung's bottom lip feels soft against his, the way Jinyoung nips slightly at his lips, everything just seems so right. 

 

\----

 

It's no surprise that the rest of them know already. Jaebum and Jinyoung tries to keep it as discreet as they could but everyone's had some sort of suspicion since Jinyoung stopped ignoring Jaebum and started eating at their table again. The two haven't told anyone what happened that night, but their secret looks and smiles could only get them so far. Mark was the first one to know, simply because he was the most observant out of all of them. He keeps quiet all the time, sometimes joining in the fun but mostly he jut sits back and enjoys. But Jaebum and Jinyoung were't obvious, either. So it took Mark a few days to figure it out, five days to be exact. 

Jaebum and Mark were walking towards the gate, ready to head home after another tiring day for the seniors. The comfortable silence was broken once they reached the gate and right when Jaebum and Jinyoung were about to wave him goodbye, Mark confronted them.

"Hey, are you guys dating?" Mark confronts them, voice nonchalant with hands in his pockets. The two both freeze, Jinyoung's eyes wide while he looked at Jaebum for answers. Jaebum looks back at him and he breaths deeply before he faces Mark. 

"Yeah," Jaebum breaths out, an affectionate smile on his face. He reaches out to hold Jinyoung's hand and said man lets him. "You don't mind, do you?" Jaebum asks warily, tightening his grip on Jinyoung's hand. 

Mark smiles lazily, and shrugs. "Not at all." He waves casually to the both of them and Mark starts walking home. 

The following days were a bit nerve-wracking to Jaebum. Although the was proud that Jinyoung was with him, he was still a bit afraid of telling everybody. Jinyoung understood that and he waited until Jaebum was ready. Mark kept quiet about it, just like Jinyoung said he would, but he does give knowing looks if they do something particularly couple-y. Youngjae soon caught up after, he was walking with Jaebum during the morning and he just couldn't resist asking him. 

"Hyung, are you and Jinyoung hyung dating?" He asks excitedly, practically bouncing in front of him. Jaebum looks up at him in surprise and he glances around, hoping no one paid much attention to them. He looks back at Youngjae's expectant face and Jaebum almost beams at him, but he settles for smiling dazzlingly. 

"Yep." Jaebum pops out the P and he swells with pride at the thought of Jinyoung. Youngjae laughs cheerfully and congratulates him. Jaebum chuckles and puts a finger on his own lips, gesturing Youngjae to be quiet, "Don't tell anyone yet, though." Youngjae nods, and gives him a thumbs up before entering his classroom and waving goodbye to Jaebum.

Jaebum tells Jinyoung about it later when they are walking towards Jinyoung's home. And Jinyoung laughs, covering his mouth with his right hand. Jaebum raises an eyebrow, and Jinyoung says, "So that's why Youngjae was giving me looks earlier." Jaebums asks him, "What kind of look?" And Jinyoung waggles his eyebrows and the two of them laugh about it. 

A week flew by and Mark and Youngjae were the only ones to know. The others probably had their suspicions but hadn't thought about it enough. Jaebum was sure the Mark and Youngjae go out sometimes to talk about them but they only give him mischievous grins. Jaebum had started to get busy due to his last year in high school and for a few days he couldn't walk home with Jinyoung. Thankfully Yugyeom has started to pester Jinyoung to help him with math because Bambam wasn't good at it and Jinyoung was his best bet. Jinyoung agrees because he's got a soft spot for Yugyeom and this way, he could wait for Jaebum. 

The two were in the library, most of the students have gone home but a few remained, burying their noses in books and procrastinating projects and whatnot. Jinyoung and Yugyeom occupy a table near the bookshelves away from the hushed whispering of students upfront. Yugyeom was working on a worksheet the older gave him and Jinyoung was reading a book, his homework already done. Yugyeom slides his paper towards Jinyoung, and stretches. While Jinyoung checks Yugyeom's work, the younger takes a break, propping his chin on the desk and resing his chin on his palm. He watches as Jinyoung furrows his eyebrows and taps his pen on the desk as he looks at Yugyeom's answers.

Apparently, Jinyoung doesn't like being looked at so he asks, "Need anything, Yugyeom?" One of his eyebrows are raised and Yugyeom smirks, liking the feeling of ticking Jinyoung off. Smiling widely now, Yugyeom has another trick up his sleeve. "Are you and Jaebum hyung dating?" Yugyeom asks straightforwardly and Jinyoung chokes, crumpling his paper in the process. "What in theー" Jinyoung starts but the library door opens and "Speak of the devil," Yugyeom whistles under his breath, "its Jaebum hyung." Jinyoung glares at him but he immediately softens when Jaebum meets his eyes. As Jaebum walks towards them Jinyoung seems to have an answer. He leans towards Yugyeom, cupping a hand near his ear so Yugyeom could hear clearly, despite the quiet library. 

"We sure are." Yugyeom's eyes widen and he glances at Jaebum, who's sporting a confused look, then he glances at Jinyoung, who's looking nonchalant but Yugyeom can feel his giddy aura. Jaebum stands before the table and he smiles. "Let's go home?" He says and Jinyoung starts packing up, probably planning on leaving Yugyeom behind.

The next day, Yugyeom doesn't say anything but he looks a bit guilty(?), Jinyoung isn't sure. Maybe he'll confront Yugyeom about it later. He told Jaebum that Yugyeom knows on the way home and Jaebum's starting to look more comfortable at the fact that more people know about them. 

Yugyeom says that today he has practice at that dance school he goes to every Thursday and Jinyoung had no real reason to wait for Jaebum. He decides to walk with Jackson and Bambam later. Before class dismissal, Jinyoung asks Jackson and he says he can't come because he has fencing practice. Jinyoung pouts but doesn't bother him any further, instead, he takes out his phone to quickly message Bambam to wait for him at the gates. Hopefully, he hasn't gone out yet. Jinyoung starts walking and he takes two steps at a time when he feels his phone vibrate and a simple 'okay' is shining at him. Ever since Jaebum started to walk him home, walking by himself has started to get lonely, but he didn't mind back then. Bambam was playing with his phone when Jinyoung arrives. The two of them walk silently, and Jinyoung is dismayed, because usually Bambam has a lot to say and he doesn't shut up, but today seems to be an exception. Jinyoung knows for a fact that Bambam is extremely comfortable with him, going so far to even walk home with him sometimes when Jaebum can't and on all those times, Bambam had been neither silent or fidgety. Bambam surely has a problem and it looks like he's itching to tell it but something is stopping him. Jinyoung looks at him comfortingly and gently prompts it out of him. 

"Bam-ah, are you okay?" He asks, and they start walking a bit more slowly now. Bambam looks at him once, and he opens his mouth to say something but he hesitates. Jinyoung would have laughed at how hesitant Bambam is being but it looks like this is serious. "What's wrong? I promise I won't laugh." Jinyoung encourages and it's all it takes for Bambam to finally open his mouth. 

"Hyung, you won't get mad, right?" Jinyoung nods, "Okay, it was an accident, I swear! Yugyeom accidentally told me that..." Jinyoung inwardly rolls his eyes and reminds himself to never tell Yugyeom secrets again. "You and Jaebum hyung are dating?" He ends it with a question but Jinyoung is sure that Bambam 100% believes every word that comes out Yugyeom's mouth. Nonetheless, Jinyoung nods slowly, watching Bambam's face closely. "Hopefully, this isn't a problem?" Jinyoung asks, afraid that Bambam might get freaked out and run away from them. 

"NO! No! I mean, so you don't have a problem with-- with liking other-- with being gay?" Bambam stutters out, and this time, Jinyoung does laugh. 

"Of course not. Haven't you heard the rumors?" He waves his hands on each side of his head as Bambam sags with relief. Jinyoung suspects something, so he decides to ask about it. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, it's just that I might be." Bambam emphasizes, looking at the ground. "You know, gay." 

"That's okay. Thank you for telling me." Jinyoung gently says and Bambam's eyes widen as he looks at Jinyoung. "Have you told anyone else?" Bambam shakes his head and Jinyoung snorts, "Good, now I feel special." Bambam chuckles at this and he starts to look like himself again. They spend the entire walk talking about past crushes and the present.

For a few weeks, Jinyoung winks at Bambam whenever he catches him looking at a certain someone, Bambam just flushes hotly and ignores him. He also invites him to his and Yugyeom's study dates (which he will call Yugyeom and Bambam's library date featuring Jinyoung very, very soon). The others don't seem to get it but they don't think much of it either. Jackson the poor, poor soul, still has no clue. He just drawls on and on about Jinyoung and Jaebum, thinking that they'd get annoyed with his teasing but in reality, they're already dating. 

Jinyoung gets surprised one day when during their second subject, Jackson returns from the toilet. Currently, there was no teacher and they were given free time. Jackson uses this opportunity to roam around, he invited Jinyoung earlier but he refused. He returns red-faced and panting and he stomps over to Jinyoung. Jackson grabs him by the collar of his sweater and growls out, "Tell me, Park Jinyoung, have I done anything wrong to you for you to not trust me?" Jinyoung, confused but aware that Jackson is causing a scene, only raises both of his hands in surrender. "Hold on, let's talk about this outside, okay?" Jackson huffs but complies, immediately letting go and going out. Jinyoung quickly following after.

Once they were outside, Jackson bursts, "How could you not tell me that you and Jaebum hyung are dating?" Jinyoung raises an eyebrow. 

"This is what that was about?" 

"Yes!" Jackson cries out, but it's evident that he isn't really angry and is genuinely happy for them. 

"Who told you?" Jinyoung narrows his eyes at him, if that brat Yugyeom told someone else againー 

"Jaebum hyung did." Jackson beams, "I bumped into him a while ago and he went 'hey, did you know that I'm dating Jinyoung?' then he just left! That asshole." 

Jinyoung takes in this information calmly but inside he's seething. "Uh-huh. Aren't you gonna congratulate me?" Jinyoung asks, tapping his foot against the floor. 

"No, you didn't even tell me first." Jackson frowns and turns to leave but not before winking at Jinyoung exaggeratedly. Jinyoung laughs and Jackson opens the door for him, both of them entering the room. 

Later on, at lunch time, Jinyoung finds Jaebum alone at their table. He takes this opportunity to whack the back of his head before taking a seat next to him. Jinyoung whines, "How could you just snitch on me like that?" Jaebum only chuckles at him and reaches over to pull him closer by the waist. Instinctively, Jinyoung rests his head on Jaebum's shoulder and he sighs contentedly.

"I just wanted to get it over with." Jaebum replies, starting to pat his hair. Jinyoung closes his eyes, liking the way Jaebum's starts playing with his hair. 

"Yeah, it's nice to be out in the open." Jinyoung snuggles closer andー

"Eww! Jaebum hyung and Jinyoung hyung and being lovey-dovey!" Bambam shrieks and earns a few laughs and hoots from the others while the couple just sighs. The teasing would last a few weeks, at best, Jaebum thinks. 

Jaebum only continues to run his hand through Jinyoung's silky hair comfortingly, and Jinyoung looks up to smile at him, soft yet proud. Jaebum still likes to think about everything, from how he met Jinyoung, to all their ups and downs, to where they are now, and he can't help but smile back at Jinyoung affectionately, heart bursting at the seams. 


End file.
